Seib & Wessel: What We’re Reading Tuesday

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has been traveling the country recruiting companies to move to Texas, writes that the formula for states to grow is “low taxes, smart regulations and fair courts,” and he specifically cites Missouri, Maryland and Illinois as states that need to “improve their jobs climate.” [USA Today]

Zuma Press

President Barack Obama

Shane Harris (@shanewharris) writes that senior leaders at the NSA “are angry and dispirited by what they see as the White House’s failure to defend the spy agency against criticism of its surveillance programs” and feel they have been “left twisting in the wind.” [Foreign Policy]

The Obama administration has known for several years that many Americans would lose their insurance plans with the advent of the president’s new health law, write Lisa Myers (@LisaMyers) and Hannah Rappleye (@HRappleye); the law contained a provision allowing insurers to continue providing existing policies that don’t meet the legislation’s new standards, but then Health and Human Services officials “narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date — the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example — the policy would not be grandfathered.” [NBC News]

Even if the federal health exchange’s website doesn’t meet its targeted repair date, the program will not unravel, writes Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn). The plan’s provisions to provide subsidies and reimburse insurance plans that enroll more sick people than expected will prevent it from entering a “death spiral,” he says, and insurers will have incentive to keep their rates low to attract customers in 2015. [New Republic]

The 2014 midterms could determine the Senate majority for the next decade, making the elections a make-or-break moment for the GOP, writes Charlie Cook (@CookPolitical). Republicans will be “playing defense, not offense” in 2016 and will have few opportunities to gain seats in the chamber, he says. [National Journal]

Molly Jackman (@MollyJackman), Saul Jackman (@JackmanSaul) and Grace Wallack (@Grace_Wallack) conclude that the inability of Congress to deal with the farm bill demonstrates that enacting spending cuts under pressure of a budget debate leads to ineffective policy. “The last time Congress attempted to cap farm payments in 1996, aggregate spending for farm subsidies actually increased.” [Brookings]

Al Hunt (@AlHuntDC) writes that the budget committee, whose task is compounded by misinformation, has two options: failure, which would leave sequestration in place, or a short-term package of entitlements cuts and new revenue to replace sequestration. Cracking down on tax breaks and trimming a few write-offs keeps alive the chance for more radical tax reform later and wouldn’t much affect marginal rates, he writes. [Bloomberg View]

Michael Schaffer (@michaelschaffer) parodies Politco’s Playbook as if it were written during the Civil War, including top-hat tips and a message from Union-Pacific. An excerpt: “Play-book facts of life: … If it emerges that [the president] actually issued the proclamation because he believes involuntary bondage is an immoral affront to human dignity, we could be looking at months of hearings.” [The New Republic]

The Next Budget Battle:In an interview with Jerry Seib, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist previews the coming budget battle in Washington, what leverage Republicans have left after the government shutdown and what he wants to see happen with entitlements.

Sign of the Times

Minor milestones we’ve spotted:

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has a 12-point lead over Republican Ken Cuccinnelli, 51% to 39%, among likely voters in Virginia’s race for governor, according to a Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll. [Washington Post]

China, seeking returns, has shifted the share of its overseas direct investment going to rich countries from just a tenth in 2002 to two-thirds last year. [The Economist]

Divorce rates in Beijing are up 41% since last year, as homeowners seek to take advantage of a new loophole that allows divorced couples to sell their houses tax-free, with certain conditions. [MSN]

People using food stamps buy more carbonated soft drinks (42% more Coke and 94% more Pepsi) than the national average and 110% more Doritos, according to InfoScout. [Ad Age]

Nearly as many children (7%) have tablets today as their parents (8%) did two years ago, a Common Sense Media study found. By the time they’re eight years old, American children spend an hour and 55 minutes a day on average looking at a screen. [Quartz]

Penn State is to pay $59.7 million to 26 men over claims that they were sexual abused by football coach Jerry Sandusky. [WSJ]

In Manhattan, property sales in flood zones rose twice as fast as in other parts of the borough after Superstorm Sandy, climbing 26.9% in the third quarter over the same quarter in 2012 versus 12.3% elsewhere in the borough. [WSJ]

Nearly 80% of college students say they text in class, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln researcher found. [The Atlantic]

There will be 24 GOP Senate seats up in 2014 and 10 Democratic seats. Seven of the Republican seats are in states President Obama carried in 2012. [Charlie Cook]

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Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.